⚜Guardian⚜

Chapter Twelve

Dinner was in a large ballroom with giant old fashioned chandeliers. The table was fairly large, so they only needed to use one section of it. Lacey sat next to Leo, and on the opposite side of the table, Asher sat next to Ari and a woman Lacey didn't recognize. At the head of the table sat a man. When Lacey's eyes tried to get a fix on the man, he seemed to fade and flicked, like an old lamp.

"Lacey, we are so glad to have you here at the Institute," the woman beamed. Lacey tore her eyes away from the flickering man so that she was facing the woman.

"Thank you so much for having me here," Lacey gushed. The wide double doors opened, and a flood of servants ushered in. They placed a plate and a cup down in front of everyone. Lacey watched as they placed what looked like twenty pitchers of unknown fluids in the middle of the table.

"I'm Aida, by the way," the woman declared. Her smile was warm and welcoming, unlike Ari's signature smirk.

"I'm Jeffers!" the flickering man introduced. Lacey resisted the urge to gawk at him, and she gave him what she hoped was a confident grin.

"It's nice to meet both of you," Lacey declared.

"Hey mom, did you know that today Lacey had this charm bracelet that Lucifer gave her? It made people Inhibitionless so when Ari touched it she tried to beat up Lacey, but Lacey easily defended herself and then Asher stepped in," Leo rambled. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, the room erupted in chaos. Lacey nearly choked on her dinner, and she coughed as her food slid down the wrong pipe. Her eyes watered slightly and Leo pounded her back.

"It didn't exactly happen like that-" Lacey tried to choke out at the same time Aida said,

"Lucifer gave you a necklace!?" In an incredulous tone. Lacey tried to answer her, but her protests were drowned out almost immediately.

"It's her fault she had the bracelet on her! It's not like I was the one who forgot that he put it on..." Ari snapped.

"It was crazy! You'd never expect a human to be able to..." Leo said. Lacey drowned out all of their protests, her eyes finding Asher's. Time seemed to slow down for her as their gazes locked. Asher nodded almost imperceptibly. For some reason, Lacey just didn't question him. She trusted him enough that she knew whatever he was about to do was for the best. Without warning, Asher placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. It was loud enough that everyone stopped talking and looked at him.

"Lucifer has been after me for a while- I'm not really sure why. But he forced the bracelet on me and altered my memory specifically so that I wouldn't remember him putting it on," Lacey explained. Aida took this into account, her face changing slightly.

"And what exactly happened with Ari?" Aida inquired.

"She took the Inhibitionless bracelet and the crazy thing it made her do was get into try and fight me. Neither of us were really hurt though, since Asher stepped in. It was really the bracelet that made her do it so I don't blame her for it," Lacey declared. The room quieted just then. Whether it was from the shock of her words or something else, Lacey couldn't tell.

"That's very kind of you, Lacey. Ari, you and I will have a talk later," Aida exclaimed menacingly. Lacey looked down at her meal, deciding not to say anything more.

"I thank Asher for stopping that fight. Sometimes I wonder where I would be in life without our relationship," Ari blabbed. Lacey felt her grip tighten on her fork convulsively. Lacey didn't want Ari to know she had gotten the best of her, but Lacey couldn't stand being around the conniving girl any longer. Lacey stood, holding her plate in her hands.

"This meal has been amazing, but I'm not feeling too great at the moment. I think it was something I ate earlier," Lacey declared. Aida stood, too, looking concerned. Lacey, fearing tears would come to her eyes, fled from the room, her stomach heaving. She leaned against the door in relief, shutting her eyes tightly.